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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Improve Your Health Care Experience with Health Advocate

Three years ago, I went to the SHRM conference looking for a company that could help our staff get the most out of our health insurance. We were paying for our staff to have great coverage, but I was hearing about situations where our staff weren't getting the care they needed or they were hassling with resolving claims issues they didn't fully understand. The HR team was also spending a considerable amount of time helping people resolve issues related to our health and dental insurance and receiving questions about Medicare that were outside our area of expertise. Health Advocate had a booth at the conference. I chatted with them, picked up some literature, and followed-up when I got back to the office. We decided they would fill a need and added the benefit November 1, 2008.

Health Advocate can help people address a whole host of healthcare and insurance-related issues that include.

Finding the best providers or hospitals

Untangling medical bills

Locating eldercare and support services

Securing second opinions

Navigating insurance coverage

Explaining conditions and treatment options

We cover all our staff (regardless of whether or not they have our health insurance coverage) and all of our retirees. Coverage also extends to our spouses, dependent children, parents and parents-in-laws. We seem to be averaging around 40 interactions per month. About half of the calls are people looking for assistance with a claim. Other popular reasons to call relate to locating care, seeking health information, and dealing with Medicare.

I've used the service myself a number of times. Health Advocate once wrote a successful appeal letter for me when I had lab charges denied that were provided through a participating doctor, a couple of years ago they helped me find a physical therapist near the office with available appointments, and I just called them again to help me find a doctor with a particular speciality and to get information about treatment options for a specific condition.

The service is reasonably priced at $2.10 per covered employee/retiree per month. The current utilization report suggests that they saved us $20,838 from 12/1/2010 through 9/30/2011. (That's mostly an estimate of productivity savings.) During that period, our coverage cost about $6,400. Not a bad ROI.

If you're covered under the ASHA plan, you can call Health Advocate at 866-695-8622.

Thank you for suggesting Health Advocate because for the longest time, I only depend on what others say about health care systems. I hope to find a good health insurance that will also include dental care.